LIVE IN LA

In mid 1991 a concert from TREVOR RABIN was broadcasted in one Stereo FM Radio Station in my city. It was the time (since maybe 1987) when very good Rock music concerts were broadcasted by at least three different Stereo FM Radio Stations in my city. I recorded some parts of that broadcast from Rabin`s concert in one cassette which unfortunately does not work anymore. The set list of that concert was very similar to the one which this "Live in L.A." album has, but the radio broadcast also included "Promises", another song from Rabin`s "I Can`t Look Away" album which unfortunately was not included in this live album. I can`t say if the concert which was broadcasted in the radio was the same concert which was released in this live album, but both are very energetic performances by Rabin and his band from his 1989 solo tour to promote his "I Can`t Look Away" studio album which was released in the same year.

This live album has several songs from that 1989 studio album, plus one from his "Wolf" album and three songs ("Changes", "Owner of a Lonely Heart" and "Love Will Find a Way") which Rabin previously recorded with YES in the albums "90125" and "Big Generator". Rabin really had a hard time trying to reach some high notes which were originally sung by Jon Anderson in "Owner of a Lonely Heart", leaving some parts of the song to be sung by the audience. "Cover Up" has as an intro an instrumental part which was later included in YES`s "Lift Me Up" song from the "Union" album in 1991.

From the songs which he originally recorded for his "I Can`t Look Away" album, "Sludge" is a heavy instrumental piece of music with some Prog Rock and Jazz-Rock inlfuences with very good drums by Lou Molino III, and the title song from that album is played with a very good final part which includes an extended lead guitar by Rabin. The rest of the songs are mostly good songs with a mixture of good Pop Rock music with some Prog Rock influences. "Sorrow" has some South African musical influences with some Pop Rock arrangements which made me remember a bit some of Paul Simon`s music from his album "Graceland".

The recording and mixing of the album is good. But only four musicians are credited, with Rabin and two of his musicians singing, But sometimes the backing vocals sound "so good" that sometimes I think that Rabin used some pre-recorded tapes or backing vocals samples to fill the sound, or that the backing vocals were really sung by uncredited backing singers (something that I really don`t know), but it is more likely that Rabin used pre- recorded tapes or backing vocals samples for the additional backing vocals. Anyway, this is a vey good live album that shows Rabin and his band playing very well in concert. It really is a shame that his "I Can`t Look Away" album was not very successful in the charts. I think that Rabin really had a lot of potential to be more successful as a soloist. Maybe the constant pressures from major record labels to have Hit Singles and Hit albums disappointed Rabin a bit as a soloist and as member of YES to make him dedicate his later musical career to compose soundtrack music for a lot of films, a thing which made him very successful (and maybe happier) in that field and being more comfortably away from the more demanding Pop Rock music market.